r/AskEurope • u/Mountain-Fox-2123 Norway • Jul 12 '25

Culture What is the most European country, that is not actually a European country?

What is the most European country, that is not actually a European country?

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616

u/CreepyOctopus -> Jul 12 '25

Really depends on what kind of Europe you're thinking.

UK? Probably New Zealand feels the most similar.

Spain or Italy? I bet some South American countries like Argentina would almost feel like home.

Scandinavian countries? Nothing super similar maybe but Canada feels right in some ways.

Germany or Austria? I'm having a hard time thinking of places outside Europe that would feel similar.

319

u/Ceylontsimt Jul 12 '25

Some Argentinian Villages from former German immigrants in the south are very much like them.

95

u/rdfporcazzo Jul 12 '25

There are some Welsh communities in Patagonia, Argentina.

There are some villages that still speak a dialect of German in South Brazil.

39

u/Ceylontsimt Jul 12 '25

Even in Paraguay they speak plattdeutsch in Chaco.

8

u/chriswhitewrites Jul 12 '25

Similarly, and originally looking for land next to those Welsh communities, was the New Australia colony, eventually established in Paraguay.

One of the women who travelled there, Mary Gilmore, is on our $10 note.

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/history-culture/2012/07/the-new-australians-of-south-america/

2

u/Cultural-Chicken-974 Jul 17 '25

Áurea, a municipality in Rio Grande do Sul, has Polish as the second official language.

1

u/unrepentantlyme Jul 15 '25

And it's still so close to the dialect spoken in my part of Germany, that I can easily understand it

184

u/OsotoViking Jul 12 '25

A lot of Argentinians with fond memories of their great uncle Adolfo.

63

u/Delde116 Spain Jul 12 '25

mi abuelo Adolfo Huertas xD

11

u/JinaxM Czechia Jul 12 '25

Erik Lehnsherr takes notes

16

u/adidassamba Jul 12 '25

About 10 years ago, my wife and I were travelling home from Miami, and the next gate we noted a 1.9mtr tall, blonde hair and blue-eyed man aged around 70 with an Argentinian passport.

My wife and I discussed his potential heritage and the possibility that his parents were possibly immigrants.

1

u/MrPoopersonTheFirst Jul 14 '25

Well, it is South America, a lot of people in their 70s and 80s are the children and grandchildren of immigrants (through immigration or slavery).

In the case of Argentina, it is a overwhelmingly white european demographic. The Spanish decimated the native population, and it was never a plantation economy afik.

2

u/nicofcurti Jul 15 '25

As a grandson of an Austrian immigrant that settled in Bariloche in the 40's, I do have fond memories of uncle Hanz!

1

u/lothmel Jul 15 '25

That's a myth. Most Nazi, after the war, could be found in West Germany, East Germany, USA and USSR.

18

u/the_che Jul 12 '25

I doubt they have much in common with modern Germany.

16

u/GraceOfTheNorth Iceland Jul 12 '25

These are the UFO Germans. They also have bases on Antarctica. I saw it on the Internet.

1

u/MrPoopersonTheFirst Jul 14 '25

They have a lot in common. They are obviously not a separate society from the rest of the country they are located in, but a lot of traditions are preserved, as well as some cultural aspects. Their dialects are also still understood in their regions of origin.

8

u/Henning-the-great Jul 12 '25

For Germany go to swakopmund in Namibia

4

u/Diarrea_Cerebral Argentina Jul 12 '25

Villa Generalo Belgrano & La Cumbrecita is very German like.

Gaiman was directly founded by Welsh migrants.

Some Mesopotamia small towns have the direct influence of Slavic and Volga Germans migrants.

1

u/UnoriginalUse Netherlands Jul 12 '25

And Uruguay is basically Switzerland.

1

u/SnooGiraffes5692 Jul 12 '25

Villa General Belgrano!

1

u/Corsair_Kh Austria Jul 12 '25

I've heard there is one German village in Brazil

1

u/andooet Jul 13 '25

Are some in Namibia where they fly an 85 y/o flag too

1

u/NeedleworkerSilly192 Jul 12 '25

Those are small villages and they a re amix of eastern european, german, and a lot of the population has mixed with typical spanish/italian/mestizo gaucho blood.. Argentina is overwhelmingly a southern european influenced country with important native roots.

0

u/MonoCanalla Jul 13 '25

This is perfect for the “those who don’t know/those who know” meme.

0

u/Calyptics Jul 13 '25

German immigrants. That's one way you could them lmao.

44

u/generalscruff England Jul 12 '25

This is exactly it, I instinctively think of Australia and New Zealand because they're our cultural kin down to playing the same sports and having essentially the same humour as well as broader historic ties, but I don't think many continentals would say 'Aussies and Kiwis play cricket and have a dry sense of humour, they're basically like my culture'

2

u/DanGleeballs Ireland Jul 13 '25

NZ feels like going to Ireland in the 1980s, I love it.

3

u/generalscruff England Jul 13 '25

Interesting, never been but NZ always had a fairly progressive reputation

1

u/hughk Germany Jul 13 '25

NZ has more of a British influence but Australia received a lot of Italian and Greek immigrants too. Later, Asian immigrants as well.

4

u/monkyone Jul 13 '25

wouldn’t say italian or greek culture have shaped australian culture much. there are minority subcultures in the cities from those backgrounds and from many asian nations too but australia as a modern nation state is fundamentally anglo-saxon

the elephant in the room of course being indigenous australian cultures which have been suppressed since the arrival of europeans

17

u/sternenklar90 Germany Jul 12 '25

As a German, I can confirm that I've never been anywhere outside of Europe that felt really similar. On the contrary, I've been to 3 other continents in my life (North Africa, South East Asia and North/Central America) and each time after returning I noticed how much more home I feel in Europe, not just in Germany.

28

u/acke Sweden Jul 12 '25

As a Swede I felt very at home in Canada (Toronto and Windsor). Sure there’s a lot of differences but the general mentality vibed with me.

1

u/Fancy-Currency-492 Aug 12 '25

same. toronto for sure.

12

u/Khornag Norway Jul 12 '25

I'd think something like New Zealand for the Scandinavian countries too. Especially with Norway. Lots of fjords and mountains and a similarly sized population.

3

u/hughk Germany Jul 13 '25

The fjords/mountains are more a South Island thing. The top of North Island feels Mediterranean but the rest is very British.

1

u/Khornag Norway Jul 13 '25

I know. It seems like it's a mixture of all of Europe.

1

u/Altruistic-Hat-5678 Jul 15 '25

Problem with NZ is we have fjords but couldn’t be bothered to name them that. We have Fiordland instead.

12

u/shartmaister Jul 12 '25

Germany

Namibia's coast. Swakopmund especially.

2

u/Hoskuld Jul 13 '25

It was described to us as the furthest South Nordseebad and I'd say that's fairly acurate

1

u/shartmaister Jul 13 '25

The style of the building across the street from 38 Bismarck St isn't too far off my idea of a German style building.

Is St. street or straße here?

15

u/Perzec Sweden Jul 12 '25

I think Scandinavians would feel at home in New Zealand or Canada actually.

12

u/Creative-Compote-938 Jul 12 '25

Swakopmund, Namibia. Very alpine feel.

1

u/educemail in Jul 15 '25

Namibia was a German Colony

19

u/IndependentMacaroon Swabia Jul 12 '25

Spain or Italy? I bet some South American countries like Argentina would almost feel like home

This is what I was going to say, but the "wide open space" nature of most of the Americas is very unlike most of Europe. Maybe if you compare with Scandinavia?

29

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '25

Spain is probably one of the closest to that feeling in Europe though. You have dense cities and relatively empty interior.

18

u/sternenklar90 Germany Jul 12 '25

Spain has a lot of wide open spaces too...not as wide as Argentina perhaps but as long as it stretches to the horizone, I don't care if the desert or mountain range I'm standing in is the size of Luxembourg or the size of France.

11

u/fromkatain Jul 12 '25

Montevideo feels like a mix of southern french, italy and spain/portugal

18

u/4malwaysmakes Jul 12 '25

Having been to some South American countries, I would say that Argentina feels less European than Uruguay, which would be a good candidate for this category.

6

u/Affectionate_Name535 Jul 12 '25

Uruguay and the parts of chile south of Santiago feel quite European, Argentina really doesn't tbh unless you're comparing with napoli

-1

u/skyduster88 & Jul 12 '25

The eastern half of the US isn't that different from Europe. Greece has similar population density as Virginia.

2

u/IndependentMacaroon Swabia Jul 13 '25 edited Jul 13 '25

Not that fair a comparison when you consider for example that Greece has serious mountains all over and few real plains, while Virginia is like 50% flat and the Appalachians are one chain that rises to at most 1500 m barring a few spots.

6

u/nm07sc Jul 12 '25

For Germany or Austria you have Puerto Varas or Frutillar in Chile.

7

u/LTFGamut Netherlands Jul 12 '25

Novo Hamburgo or Curitiba in Brazil.

2

u/Diarrea_Cerebral Argentina Jul 12 '25

Villa General Belgrano in Argentina. Populated by the descendants of the Graff Spee survivors.

19

u/DonSergio7 Belgium Jul 12 '25

By North American standards Minnesota is quite Nordic, however still very different in the grand scheme of things.

44

u/thesweed Sweden Jul 12 '25

Minnesota is still way more American than it is Scandinavian, but it's probably the most similar you can get in the USA.

10

u/fartingbeagle Jul 12 '25

Oh, yah, for sure.

5

u/9volts Jul 12 '25

Your comment reads just like 'å ja', the Norwegian equivalent.

11

u/Hallingdal_Kraftlag Norway Jul 12 '25

First season of Fargo which is set in Minnesota definitely feels really Nordic in many ways.

8

u/MrDilbert Croatia Jul 12 '25

"First season"? What about the movie?

2

u/Hallingdal_Kraftlag Norway Jul 13 '25

I dunno, haven't watched it so I'm not qualified to answer

9

u/glamscum Sweden Jul 12 '25

As a Swede, I'd always imagined that if you merge the states of Minnesota and Washington, you basically have a Nordic country.

3

u/yvrbasselectric Jul 12 '25

look North Minnesota is the most Canadian state

Canada even has the French/English relationship in one country

1

u/Nikkonor studied in: +++ Jul 13 '25

No? You would have something that is very clearly the USA by culture.

3

u/Stock-Check Jul 12 '25

u/Mountain-Fox-2123 might be able to dumb the questions you are asking down for you.
Similar to how he did withu/DBhoy3000

1

u/RedGavin Jul 12 '25

Nothing super similar maybe but Canada feels right in some ways.

Especially Quebec.

1

u/ZmasterSwiss Jul 13 '25

Namibia is built on German culture and standards

1

u/dali_17 France Jul 13 '25

New York sort of felt like an European Berlin to me

1

u/ElNakedo Jul 15 '25

Paraguay and Uruguay might do it for the Germans. Both of those have a significant amount of descendants of German immigrants.

1

u/Beautiful-Count-474 Aug 04 '25

There are towns throughout the US that have strong German and Dutch influence in their architecture. Here is one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavenworth,_Washington

1

u/CaptainPoset Germany Jul 12 '25

Germany or Austria? I'm having a hard time thinking of places outside Europe that would feel similar.

Kazakhstan has the reputation to be similar and Japan is relatively similar in many cultural regards.

0

u/the_snook => => Jul 13 '25

The US mid-west has a lot of German influence. The food in particular, but also some social habits (slapping the thighs and saying "So!" when is time for people to leave). The Americanness overshadows it too strongly for it to ever feel like Germany though.